President Greenwood sends message of condolences on passing of Abbott

"We in the university community are deeply saddened by the death of University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Emeritus Professor of Botany Isabella Abbott, the pre-eminent marine botanist of the Pacific region.

"Dr. Abbott was a gifted and decorated scientist, a dedicated and inspiring professor, an active community volunteer and a passionate and eloquent spokeswoman for the study and protection of marine life. Known around the world as a brilliant scientist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Jane Lubchenco said Dr. Abbott was 'a font of knowledge and a beacon of inspiration for generations of marine biologists around the world.'

"One of Dr. Abbottʻs early publications, the 800-page Marine Algae of California, was hailed as a 'quantum advance' in taxonomy of marine algae of the West Coast. She also wrote Limu: an Ethnobotanical Study of Some Hawaiian Seaweeds, published within a year of her retirement from Stanford University and return to Hawai‘i as holder of the Wilder Chair in Botany in 1984.

"I feel a kindred connection with Dr. Abbott as a sister in science—obtaining advanced degrees against the odds, working in an arena few women had yet to enter, embarking on a new challenges in Hawai‘i after careers based in California and advocating for sound national policy on issues of public interest.

"I urge those who didn’t know this remarkable scientist to learn more in Mālamalama magazine, and those who did to leave messages of remembrance in the comments, as one former student did, paying the ultimate compliment to a teacher: 'for me the application of the knowledge and skills transmitted from Dr. Isabella is incorporated, I with confidence can claim, in how I live.'

"My deepest condolences to her family, friends, former students and colleagues."